Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL #9
 

A thread for us to share our personal challenges completing UWOL #9...

I'll start....

My GL2 will be arriving today at the Canon repair facility....
Hoping for a speedy return....

Otherwise, my little old Panasonic GS-250 will have to come out....

Good luck everyone!

Bob T.

Good luck with getting your camera back Bob, i hope you get it in time to use it!

Bryce

I can't believe that I have a tale of woe already...but I was shooting some footage of a kayaking competition from a bridge yesterday, using my RED camera. I had this great overhead shot...and I was changing out my media (CF cards) when all of a sudden a duck went flying through the rapids with the kayakers...followed within seconds by about six little babies. I knew that I would not be able to get my media switched out in time, so I just had to sit back and enjoy the moment. It was something, seeing those tiny fragile little babies navigating the rapids alongside the humans with all their high-tech gear....the money shot, for sure.

A couple of these guys have national titles for freestyle kayaking, and, as the last baby duck managed to escape the froth, one of them called out, "we have a winner!" That was cute, to see the human with the apex of human paddling skills acknowledging that he had nothing on a week-old duck.

Ducks 1
Humans 0

Hi all, just a quick and small message from me. I'm out in the woodland for the moment. Hopefully I have my day, collecting some real nice wildlife shoots for you all to view. I'm trying to get the Great Grey Owl into my viewfinder, not the easyest target to get footage of, but with some luck....
...stay tuned!

The Great grey is one of my personal fav's....fab, I wish you luck! Although I have to admit I thought that was a purely N.American species.

Mat, the Great Grey is widely spread out the northern hemisphere. They breed in all Scandinavian countries, across northern Asia and North America.
It's very large and completely silent, you can pass it in the forest in just a couple of meters without even noticing it. If you are near it and you look in another direction, suddenly it has disappeared without any noise.
Some use to call it the ghost owl.
First time I saw it I was amazed by this. Could not imagine that a bird of this size could be so silent even in flight near you, you hardly notice any noise at all.

I certainly know what you mean about silent flight. The barn owls I filmed, one of which flew over my head less then 2-3m away was completely silent too. Hence the name of the film of course :-) !!! I find owls fascinating in general but the great grey is a particular species I'd love to see...hey and especially if your filming it !!!

I'm going out this evening looking for hedgehogs. We have a lot around here, particularly at this time of year. This is a little guy from a walk last night.....shot with my phone !!

got the theme on Monday, Got the Raynox telephoto on Tuesday and ... here comes the rain.

It's predicted to hang around for the next couple of weeks - I just need 1 or 2 dry days and a good pair of waders to get close to some black swans - here's hoping

nooooo..... Mat, guess what I was doing last night armed with my nightshot handycam..... hahaha!

Well, I got a start.

One lone doe. I guess she "napped" and was looking for the rest of the herd. Got a few seconds anyway.

I'll be haunting that place for a few evenings.

I got it!
 

The Great Grey is on tape and in fact captured into FCP! My trip out in the woodland was great. Learned a lot about a species that I haven't been able to shoot any footage of before!
The footage is wonderful to watch, the light was perfect during the night and early morning, which is the best time for shooting wildlife in scandinavia right now.

Images are all screen capture from the timeline, shoot at HDV 1080i50

Fantastic images. Looking forward to the sequence fella !!! What lens was this with and at what distance?

Good Afternoon,

Per, Great shots!! Can't wait to see the footage.

Meryem, Murphy rules!!! Reading your post I anticipated you dropping your Red over the bridge!!


Narrowing a topic has been the problem as I do not want to shoot a mosaic which would be easy.

Was out yesterday, shot zero footage!! then the weather hit and it has been raining. thats ok as the prairie is disturbingly dry till now!!

On a Trek today I picked my subject, but I am going to have to do some serious traveling to get the footage. I am going to be shooting our native Prairie Falcon. Worked up a shot list, talked with a couple friends as I will need a mule or two to help haul equipment. Both cameras are working for a change. I will post a couple frame grabs next week. I just hope its dry enough to get back into the country we want to film.

Absolutely amazing shots Per!
 

Love the images Per and like Mat, I would be very interested to know the lens and distance. Also, did I see you using a Canon 400mm f2.8 prime whilst shooting the shots of the Golden eagle?

I have also just moved to FCP - which has been the right move for me. I love working between Motion and FCP, and will create my introduction using these two apps.

I have some good footage, but the light could be better, so I need to round it all off with some backlit sun set sort of shots. Plenty time to go....

Per, like always, I am really looking forward to seeing your entry.

More deer. 23 more minutes of attempts to follow deer. Copied over to the computer from the media card in 3 minutes (Dang, I love this AVCHD workflow! No more "real time" capture).

The downside, after reviewing all shot so far is that I now realize how bad my tripod sux! Seemingly steady enough at wide angle and close up settings, solidity goes right out the window at 12x telephoto zoom and in West Texas wind. I was complaining I need more telephoto reach and my tripod gear won't handle the reach of the zoom on the cam.

Anyway, some good "B roll" cutaways, music, and a few evenings of editing and I might just have something.

Wow, all you guys are really getting off to a great start. I have yet to even think about grabbing the camera, so to hear you have footage already in the can makes me jealous! I do have a couple of ideas, one of which should come off depending on what i manage to get on tape when i have a couple of hours to spare with the camera. In the meantime, i need to get so many things organised for my move to Canada it's making my head spin!

Bryce

Working long days means I have to wait for the weekend to get out and about with the camera, so I feel like I'm lagging behind too. It's a busy time at home and at work and I hope I don't end up in the tank.

Not to mention that I can't go anywhere until I get new glasses on Saturday, my eyes aren't HD-ready any more!

Hey Bruce, how's the heat in San Angelo? Probably hotter than here in Tomball, but a 103 heat index is enough for me. The 35 mph gusts are trying to blow my little A1U away.

I just missed a great shot this morning about 7 am. I had a Great White Egret, a Great Blue Heron and another Egret lined up for a great transition shot (Did I say great enough times?). As soon as I got in position, they bolted.

That's the first time I've seen any herons in this area. Hope it comes back.

Looks like some more, early shooting before work. At least it's cooler (not as hot) then.

I see some of you already have some great footage on tape.
Me, that's a different story.... I haven't even found an idea yet.
Camera still waiting to get used. But sooner or later I will come up with something as always.
My major concern is that I won't get my new computer in time to edit my entry. Well, time will show. No need to worry until I really have to, right.

Good luck, everyone!

Well I just got my repair estimate from Canon....$62.93...(expected more!)

So hopefully they can finish and get it shipped back out by Friday and I can have it next week....

Still need an idea, also...

Bob T.

102 on my front porch yesterday. Not too bad in the evenings. I don't get out in the heat of the day to photograph, do video, or teach defensive handgun classes. But once it starts cooling off a tad it gets better.

The wind gusts here caused me a lot of stability problems while doing video the last two days. If you think your cam is tiny...

I'm trying to shoot in all that wind with a Canon HF100.

That sounds like my kind of luck. We have an area where egrets and herons go wading to "munch". I can't count the times I've seen a great possibility and not had a camera handy.
That makes sense. At least I got a little of this unexpected behaviour yesterday evening.

I've been getting some wonderful ideas on the theme, so i planned to go out filming on my four rest days from work (i work 4 on 4 off) but on the first day off my daughter bless her had an accident in the park, fell off the climbing frame and guess what... broke her leg :(

So the last two days I've spent in hospital with her. She is a mummy's girl but sometimes needs her dad as well. Perhaps in plaster and physio for four weeks, so gonna be a long month...

Still, I'll be trying to get some filming done, even if it's birds out the window, I'm determined to finish this challenge and upload an entry.

I built my first hide today!

Well, it's actually a long piece of cloth 12'x5' strung between some trees on the lake edge but it should serve the purpose.

Every time I try to get close to the swans they seem to drift a little further away - hopefully I can sneak up on them now ... if the rain stays away.

The raynox works well, I'll post some pics tomorrow

Paul, a tip will be to go out to the hide with one more person, then after a while the other person leaves the hide. Birds can't count so when they see the other person leave, they think nobody still there!

Great Tip!
 

Great tip that is Per Johan, I read that in "Go Wild...With your Camcorder" by Piers Warren. Great book, always fascinated me that has :)

Russ

the real trick will be trying to con someone into donning their gum boots and trudging all that way through the mud just to fool some swans - great idea though!

Well Canon still has my camera....and time is getting short.

Broke out the old Panasonic GS250 this morning and got some shots of.....
Never mind....hopefully I won't have to use them.

But I'm gonna get somethin' in...that's for sure.

Bob T.

Well.. I've only gone and twisted both ankles so I'm on crutches, 10min walking max for every hour. (10min is tuff work) So unless I can film from the car with my partner driving, I don't think I'm going to make it.

Sorry to hear that Mark,
Now if you lived in S.A. filming from your car is probably not a bad idea at all, but i guess in the UK the critters aren't quite so fearsome. Good luck with it, hope you do manage to get something together, & i hope your ankles heal quickly.

Bryce

Hi Paul,
Sounds great. I've wanted to build myself a hide too, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I would like one of the ones you simply pack up like a tent, but they're ridiculously expensive. To be honest, i think if i were to actually buy/build all the things i would like to have with me when i go out filming, i think i would need a couple of sherpas to help me carry everything!
Glad to hear you like the Raynox lens too. It sure is a big sucker huh! I have found the pictures i have made with it to be fantastic, & to be honest, so far i haven't seen any degredation in the picture quality at all. Just remember to use the magnification button when you're getting your focus right, as you loose a lot of depth of focus with the 1.8x extender & are zoomed in all the way. You may even find that if a swan was swimming towards you, you could have his head in perfect focus, but his back will be way out. I have actually made myself a follow focus simply to help me get the focus right for these long focal length shots. In fact, the more i think about it, the more i am amazed at how sharp Per Johan's shots are considering the long focal lengths he works with all the time. Hmmmm, i've got a lot to learn!

Bryce

good evening,

first road blocks

Well, sense thursday I put on about 1000 miles, got some good scenery shots of nest sites but we had a lot of rain (the prairies were in desperate need ofr it) and while we visited three eyries we did not get any ariel footage. I am shooting some alternative footage this week (another small raptor) just incase plan 1 fails. I am making another effort this next friday to get some good footage, close ups and such. However, great plans are only good if the wildlife helps out a little bit!!

well, quite a day. the rain stopped so I got the gum boots on and went wading through the swamp to my hide

lesson No. 57 - when you make a hide, make sure you make it big enough to 'hide' behind

mine was a little short so I either had to crouch down to put the lens through the hole or poke the mike, lens & my head over the top - I decided on the latter and pressed record which was fine until I noticed the mosquitoes, 57 billion give or take a few.

lesson No. 58 - ALWAYS take some repellent

I tried to ignore them and then slapped a few and ended up waiving my arms frantically about. This seemed to keep them a bay but tended to shake the camera somewhat and certainly attracted the attention of the swans who might not have been able to see me but couldn't miss the waving and slapping.

lesson No. 59 - when you're hiding, try not to draw attention to yourself

here's a few stills taken from the footage using the XH-A1 and raynox telephoto

bugger, still can't upload

Are Lessons #1 - 56 just as hysterical as these? If so you should compile a book on "Wildlife videography for Dummies!" (No offence meant!)

I reckon we could all add to the list of lessons. Mike's VO Wardrobe and my VO tent come to mind, not to mention Per Johan's lessons gained from videoing musk oxen in a blizzard. Thanks for the good laugh.

Hey I can add to the "Wildlife video for dummies" book:

lesson #60 - When you see a group of the most beautiful Great Egrets, all up nesting inside the canopy of a glorious tree, DO NOT set you and your gear up underneath them, no matter how bad you want that special shot. You will definitely regret it.

lesson #61 - When set up just one foot above the calm water's edge, on a peaceful June morning, shooting bright red crabs climbing the face of a rocky inlet - NO NOT simply wave to the lady passing by on the yacht and then go back to shooting. Instead, try to remember YACHTS THROW WAKES!

hehe ;-) thats making good reading ^

I'm really getting into it this round, and have spent the last couple of evenings stalking out some local reed beds for shots of reed warblers.
The really frustrating thing is they seem to have some kind of built-in "critical focus" alarm. So, you'll hear them, then see the rustling. One will pop up, so you zero in, pull focus just in time to see it fly away. In time it starts to feel like a bit of a game - I hope I have enough time to win!!

Rule 62

It may be a clear day when you leave, take your rain gear anyway!!

Rule 63
When you forget your tool kit, a truck key can tighten the tripod mount, but it may not be straight enough to go into the ignition!!

Rule 64 Make sure that your quick release plate is on your camera or on your tripod. Not on your telescope that is two miles walk away.

Oh thank the lord I'm not the only one who forgets things. Sometimes I just stare at the pack, knowing full well that in about three miles I'm gonna want to jump off a cliff because I forgot... like the camera or something!

Which brings me to rule 65 - be extra sure to ZIP THE PACK before you throw it over your shoulder...

holy moses

Sounds to me like this book should be titled "Wildlife videography BY dummies" :)

Boy - the unexpected and unforseen situations we get ourselves into!

"Behind the scenes" video of all these rules would have been really interesting to watch.

I can add a little off topic rule #66.
When riding a bike, don't argue with a car who has the right to use the road. The cars will always win!!
I got a nice opportunity to study the nature next to the road real close as I chose the least painful solution to the argument.
That was 2 weeks ago, and my left hand still hurts a lot when trying to hold a camera.

But the good news, I have finally come up with a plan for my video.
Hopefully I can get something on tape early next week.